Running Through Fog
by SwiftintheSky
Summary: Savvi, 2% cat, and her group of animal/human hybrids have just escaped from the School.  All Savvi wants is to keep her friends safe.  Can she succeed?  And will she find out that there's really much more to her journey?  Abandoned, for now.
1. Savvi

**A/N: So, this is the first chapter! The first couple of chapters are really short, but they get longer after that, promise!**

My back rested against a hard, cold steel surface. I could feel my claws curling out, wanting to rip myself out of this place forever. Yeah, I said claws. Got a problem with that? Actually, I wouldn't blame you at all if you did. Because I'm a cat/human hybrid. I've got the claws, ears, tail, night vision, the whole nine yards. Except I'm only 2% cat. The rest of me is human.

Yup, genetically engineered by mad, evil scientists (actually, "evil" isn't strong enough to cover it), locked in a cage at the horrible School, and forced to take part in self-harming experiments. That's me. Just your average 14-year-old. Not.

"Savvi," comes a soft whisper. That's my name. Savvi. I turn and my heart melts. There's Lolly, half of her face all bruised up. My sweet Lolly, only five years old. She's a rabbit/human hybrid. Her sweet face, framed by curly brown hair, has bunny ears poking from the top. Like those headbands people wear in Easter, only real. Not that I know squat about that - I've just heard the whitecoats talking about it. Her legs are strongly muscled, and she can jump about 7 feet in the air, which is quite impressive, her being only 3 foot 6. "You're frustrated," she went on.

"Well." I stalled, "I always am." Did I forget to mention? There are some... odd side-effects coming from us being animal/human hybrids; some of us have odd powers. Whether the whitecoats put them in on purpose, I'm not sure. Lolly's is reading people's emotions. Yeah, I know you thought I was going to say minds. Not minds, emotions. Even for a part-rabbit freak, reading minds would be, well, freaky.

"But you're feeling really frustrated," Lolly wheedled. I sighed, letting myself slide down the back of my crate. The only bedroom I've ever known, by the way.

My hands curled into fists. "We have to get out of here," I hissed. (Not literally. Of course.) "The... The whitecoats, they've been talking about..." I gulped, and my ears flattened against my head as my tail lashed in agitation.

"I'm sure you can do it, Savvi," Lolly whispered. "I know you'll take care of me." Despite myself, a slight smile lifted the corners of my lips. Lolly always knew exactly the right thing to say. However, I knew what she'd just said probably wasn't true. What could I do against the whitecoats? I have to try, I thought determinedly.

Tap tap tap, the sound of footsteps down the hall. I stiffened, wondering whether they'd take me, one of my friends, or someone else entirely. Darn, I didn't seem to have much luck today - the high heels stopped directly in front of my crate. The woman bent down - Mrs. Sullivan. She wore a terrible grin. "You're wanted, Subject 38." She unlatched my crate and yanked me roughly out. Anyone normal would have wobbled, but I'm not. Normal, that is. My tail waved for a moment and I didn't wobble one bit.

Mrs. Sullivan led me down the hallway and into a large room where several other so-called "scientists" were standing around a flat table. I allowed myself to be strapped to it. Like I really had a choice. That thing they put over your nose - for some reason, they denied to ever tell me its name despite the countless times I've encountered it - dangled down, and it clamped over my nostrils. The scent of grape filled my nose, and the world went black.


	2. Silver

**A/N: Haha, first time around I didn't upload the entire Chapter 2. Here's the whole thing.**

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><p>My eyelids fluttered open. I glanced to where Savvi should be and saw nothing. Lolly's worried expression told me all I needed to know. They'd taken her. For some reason, the whitecoats had been taking her more and more often lately, but no one knew why. Except, of course, the whitecoats. "I don't know what they're going to do..." whispered Lolly. "Mrs. Sullivan, she felt... excited..." The tiny bunny girl shivered, pulling her knees up to her chest. Poor Lolly; she was only five years old. She shouldn't have to go through this.<p>

_Did they take Savvi again?_ said Fay. I started. However many times she did it, I would never get used to Fay's voice sounding inside my mind. That was her special power, the bat/human hybrid who inhabited a crate about twenty feet down, out of my sight. She and her twin brother, Shade, used to be right next to us, but they'd been moved. I think they were worried we would get organized, or something. Ha. But I could still clearly picture them in my mind: Tall, thin, big bat wings sprouting from their backs, and bat ears that drank up every noise. Shade, fair-skinned, black-haired, brown-eyed. And black-winged. And Fay... Extraordinarily pale skin, white hair and wings, pink-red eyes... She was an albino. That sounded like an ugly word, but it was better than "mutant bat freak". And she was mute. The only way she could communicate was with her mind... and she could only project her thoughts to a certain few. That included me, Savvi, Lolly, Shade (of course), and another of our great friends, Berry. Unfortunately, they'd taken Berry for testing early this morning, and he hadn't returned. Yet.

_Did they take Savvi?_ Fay asked again, more forcefully this time. _I can feel her, down in a room somewhere._ Oh, and Fay could kind of tell where we were. That, too.

"Yes," I answered, very loudly. She could probably hear me, what with those bat ears and all.

_Great._ she answered. Yep, she heard me. To Lolly's questioning gaze, I said, "Fay asked about Savvi." The young girl nodded, her brown curls swirling around her face.

Oh, and I suppose I should tell you why I'm sitting here. I'm a fish/human hybrid. I can breathe above AND below water. I have scales on my forearms, upper legs, chest, and neck. I have a dorsal fin smack dab in the middle of my back, and a large fin coming down from each arm.

Yeah, oh.

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><p>I don't know how much time passed, but eventually <em>click-clacking<em> footsteps woke me. Thirteen years of living in this place had made me a very light sleeper. It was Mrs. Sullivan, holding a groggy, worried Savvi by the arm. Mrs. Sullican unlatched Savvi's crate, and the cat/human hybrid crawled in, her brow furrowed.

"You're worried," Lolly said.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. Savvi had been gone for five hours. The only reason I can read at all is because Fay taught me, and the only reason _Fay_ knows is because she and Shade came from the Institute, where apparently things were different.

Savvi groaned. "_Five hours?_" She bent over and her hand flew to her stomach with a little gasp of pain.

"What's wrong?" I hissed.

"I'm fine," she answered through gritted teeth.

(Berry's coming!) Fay warned. Lolly, Savvi, and my heads all jerked up, so I knew she'd spoken to all of us.

Thirty seconds after Fay's announcement, two sets of feet - one bare, one not - crossed into my line of vision. There was a soft _klchk!_ as a crate was unlatched. The shoes moved away, revealing Berry sprawled in the crate directly across from Savvi's. At least as much as you can sprawl in a space too tiny for you to fully lie down in.

The nine-year-old chameleon/human hybrid looked exhausted. A sheen of sweat covered his fair-skinned forehead, his blond hair standing up in clumps. Like me, Berry had scales along his forearms, upper legs, chest - all the same places I did. He had small suction cups beneath his fingers, and he could - get this - change color. "You okay?" Savvi asked, her tone much more tender than the annoyed one she'd just used with me.

"They were having me change colors." His head fell back against the back wall of his crate. "For _hours_."

Savvi made a small sound of sympathy, and I reflected once again how my closest friends - Savvi, Lolly, Shade, Berry, Fay - and I went through this every day.

Not to mention the countless other experiments trapped in this horrible place.

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><p><strong>AN: Please review? *puppy dog eyes***


	3. Lolly

**A/N: I found it kind of hard to write from a 5-year-old's perspective, but I tried, and then again Lolly isn't a regular 5-year-old. Y'think I did okay?  
>So, review replies now. I try to reply to all my reviews! And oh my, 4. Quite a few. (Then again, Maximum Ride has the biggest fanbase of any bookgame/whatever I've posted fanfics for.)**

**Integrity21 - Thanks! And I did check out your story, I'll try to remember to get my lazy butt over there and review it. XP**

**Bad story patrol - Umm... Wow. A flame. Well, first off, Mr. "Bad Story Patrol", I don't see a lot of stories for MR that are focused on OCs, so that by default makes my story original. And as for the bugs... That would most likely be impossible, and I don't want them to be SUPERHEROES. Plus, even if my story is original, you don't have to be so rude about it.**

**DarkCorner - Thanks for defending me! :3 (Though I can't say I endorse the use of the F word...)**

**pyroman-15- - Thanks! And yeah, fish hybrids are kind of unglamorous, but I was trying to have a diverse cast, so I was like, Hmm, bat, rabbit, cat, lizard, what's left... Oh I know! A fish! So. Poor Silver. I know the "create-a-character" thing really hauls in the reviews, but I guess I'm kind of finicky... I don't really like the idea of readers directing my story, xP Oh, and what do you mean by "furry"? Just wonderin'.**

**On to the story!**

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><p>I was worried. The whitecoats hadn't done a test on me since the day before yesterday, so they were bound to soon.<p>

"Hey," Savvi murmured gently. I may be the one who can read emotions, but Savvi can usually tell what I'm thinking. She reached out for me through the bars of the cage, and I stretched over to brush my fingertips with hers. A smile flitted across my lips. I was still worried, but I knew Savvi would always back me up.

(Guys!) Fay's voice suddenly entered my mind; I exchanged glances with Savvi and Silver, whom had evidently heard it, too. (There's a... a whitecoat coming for Lolly.) My eyes went wide, and I pulled my knees up to my chest, trying not to tremble. I could feel frustration and worry sparking from Silver and Savvi as they absorbed the news.

It was just a few more minutes before the whitecoat arrived at my cage. Personally the worst part of testing, after the testing itself, is the buildup, where you get more and more nervous as you know the fateful moment will arrive. And it didn't help at all when whitecoats paused outside my crate, radiating excitement.

The whitecoat unlocked my crate and pulled me out; I sniffed and tried not to look at him, staring at my feet, as we walked down the hallway. I bet he was scary-looking. They're usually scary-looking.

Soon, still clutching my wrist with an iron grip, the man led me into a test chamber. My heart was pounding. I dared to look up from my feet, and dread seeped into my heart.

_Not the mazes!_ I thought. _Oh, no, not the mazes._ A huge, life-sized maze rose up in front of me, one the whitecoats would soon force me to run through. And they stuck bad things in, too; an electric shock if I stopped, red-hot walls, pitfalls. This was one of my least favorite tests.

Another whitecoat tapped something into a computer, then a woman nudged me to the starting line. "Okay, go," she said.

Gulping, I took off into the maze, not sure what horrors awaited me. After taking a couple of lefts, the ground suddenly caved beneath me. With a terrified shriek, I landed with a _thump_ on my butt at the bottom of the pit. "Ouch," I muttered dejectedly, then looked up at the top of the pit. It wasn't very deep, four, four and a half feet, maybe. Bunching up my muscles, I crouched, concentrating, and jumped, landing a good foot ahead of the rim and tumbling across the floor.

I stood up, shaking out my curls, and felt my eyes start to heat up. I wanted out! What was the _point_ of this? I ran blindly through the maze, occasionally falling into a hole, which I would leap out of and keep on running. Then I fell down a particularly deep pit, landing awkwardly on my foot. A spasm of pain went through it, and when I stood, my ankle cried out.

I stared bleakly up at the top of the pit, much too high for me to jump. It was probably eight feet to the top. I slumped to the ground and stated quietly, "I can't do it."

Bzzt! Pain lanced through my veins as the scientists activated an electrical shock. "Come on, Subject 32!" a voice blared, made tinny by the intercom system, far above my head. "I can't do it!" I wailed, and curled up against the wall of the hole, silent tears running down my face.

I almost expected another shock, but a few minutes later, a whitecoat appeared and threw a net over me. I objected at first, but he lifted me up and over the edge of the pit.

He took me to the start of the maze, where they put something on my ankle and poked my arm with a long needle. (I _really_ hate needles.) They did something to the maze, I wasn't sure what, and then they stood me at the start of it again.

"Go," someone growled, and pushed me forward. Nervously, I stepped into the maze, then jerked back with a startled yelp. The ground was hot beneath my feet! I glanced helplessly back at the whitecoat, but he shoved me forward with an angry, "Get on with it!"

Tears streaking down my face, I raced through the maze as fast as I could. My feet soon erupted with burning, flaming pain, and I started to stumble on my hurt ankle - they'd only dulled the pain.

_Why? Why do they make me do this?_

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><p><strong><em><em>A/N: Zee end!**

**Hm, I'll try to update this story every other day, but don't get too mad at me if I miss my deadline!**

**...**

**You know, it's kind of egotistical to assume that people will care whether a little homemade fanfic written by a middle schooler gets updated late... but whatev.**


	4. 4 Savvi

**A/N: Woohoo, a regular reviewer! Unlike SOME people. ()**

**Pyroman-15 - Hey, they're short but I update pretty quickly, right? :3 And yus, they have the ears. I don't know how I could have a cat hybrid without kitty ears! :3**

**PS: WeaponaryDefences is a friend I know in Real Life. And she hasn't reviewed yet! *glares***

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><p>My fingertips fluttered over my stomach, tracing the new stitches that spread across it. What had the whitecoats been <em>doing<em> for five hours? I probably didn't want to know. I sighed and gazed wistfully down the hallway, where Lolly had just been taken. I hoped she would be okay. Here at the School, when a subject leaves there's never a guarantee that they're coming back.

Suddenly I jumped half out of my skin, my hands clamping over my feline ears, as Fay's piercing shriek ripped through my mind. (Intruders! Winged girl flying knocking down whitecoat - ) For a flittering moment an image overlapped my vision, and I saw a brown-skinned girl, large, speckled tannish wings propelling her through the air, a ski mask over her face. Then the image blipped out of my mind, and I bolted upright, my heart pounding. Silver and Berry wore similar expressions, and we exchanged shocked, slightly excited glances. Was another subject _free_?

Distant shouts met my sensitive ears, making one ginger-furred ear twitch involuntarily. Then the same girl, her curly dark hair whipping out behind her, tore into vision. She spiraled to the floor right in front of my crate. In a split second, I saw she couldn't be a subject. She wore real shoes and clothes; she didn't have the bare feet and thin white jammies of a captive experiment. Yet, something about her was oddly familiar.

"Run," the girl hissed. Pulling a tool from her pocket, she instantly started unlatching crates. _Including mine._

I didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do. "Th-Thank you!" I spluttered in shock as I crawled out. Silver and Berry quickly followed me.

I glanced back, adrenaline coursing through my veins. Shade, Fay, and a motley group of other subjects were racing toward us. There were muffled shouts and several subjects slumped to the ground, tranquilizer darts protruding from their prone forms. The winged girl cursed under her breath, snapped open her wings, and jumped, hovering in the air above us. "Run!"

"Wait!" I cried. "Lolly is still in testing!" No one paid me any heed, and the freed mutants swirled around me.

"Savvi, what are you doing?" a male voice hissed above me. Shade swooped down beside me, brown eyes flashing angrily, wings pumping the sterile air.

"We have to get Lolly," I shouted forcefully.

He nodded and said, "I'll come with you. Fay!" he called to his mute twin, "Catch up to me later, we have to rescue Lolly! Where is she?"

Fay closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating. Then she opened her eyes, and her soft voice came, (Mazes.)

"Bye! Try to get out the back door!" I called. Fay looked like she was going to argue, her pink-red eyes flashing, but Shade swept down the way he had come, me running directly below him.

"Follow me!" I panted. Luckily, I had a bit of a power of my own: a photographic memory. I could remember where nearly every room in the School was. We swerved through the hallways and encountered a couple of whitecoats, but I gave each a good kick to the head, knocking them out before they realized what was happening. The halls were mostly empty, luckily for us. I guessed that most of the Erasers and scientists were pursuing the main herd of mutants; they probably hadn't expected any runaways to initiate a rescue mission.

But I cared about Lolly too much to escape without her.

We finally arrived, panting and determined, at the correct door. I yanked on the doorknob - and nothing happened. Cursing, I stared desperately at the locked door. _My baby, my Lolly, is in there!_

Then I remembered something. I slid out my claws - each at least an inch long and fully retractable - and stuck one in the keyhole, urgently trying to pick the lock.

I heard a _click_, and a grin split my face. We were in!

We burst into the test chamber, where several whitecoats were clustered around a pair of computers and a trolley stuffed with lab supplies. "You get her - I'll distract them," I hissed to Shade. He nodded, swooping up in the air, as the whitecoats rushed at me with angry shouts.

There were four of them. Swearing under my breath, I kicked one in the stomach and slashed another across the shoulder with my claws. A tranquilizer dart whizzed past my ear, stirring my hair; I whirled, kicked it out of the scientist's hand, and kicked him where it counts. He doubled over in pain, and I dove for the tranquilizer gun, stomping an unlucky whitecoat's hand that was also reaching for it.

I grabbed the gun and whipped around, rapidly shooting two of the scientists full of darts. The last one standing wrung out his hand and leaped at me, punching me in the stomach hard. I stumbled back, gasping, but managed to keep a hold on the gun. The whitecoat jumped at me again, and mustering all my breath and strength, I whacked him hard with the gun in the side of his head. He went down, eyes rolling back in his head, and I stood alone, panting with the effort of taking out four fully grown men and women.

"Savvi!" Shade called. The dark young boy swooped down, a sobbing Lolly held tight in his arms. He landed clumsily beside me, struggling with the extra weight. I knew he had never flown with a passenger before. "She can't walk," he explained angrily, and jabbed one of the knocked-out whitecoats with his toes. "Her feet are all burned up."

It took great self-control not to swear in front of Lolly, and I hissed vehemently, "Let's get out of here." With Shade still holding Lolly, we sped out of the test chamber. Calling on my memory to get us out of the School, we dashed through twisting, empty halls. Oddly empty. Strangely empty.

We soon skidded to a stop in front of a big pair of double doors. Shade, panting, passed a wide-eyed Lolly into my arms. "Let's blow this popsicle stand," I muttered, and burst through the double doors.

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><p><strong>AN: Yay for cliffhangers!**


	5. 5: Fay

**A/N: I'm a little late but here it is, Chapter 5! :)**

**defygravity314 - Hooray, another regular! And thanks for all the compliments. :)**

**OfweaponaryDefences - FINALLY! And yeah, I tried to make them original, but for some of 'em it just didn't work. Berry is basically a copy of Gazzy. The others are varying levels of originality. And yeah, that flamer should get with the program. ;)**

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><p>After Savvi and Shade left, I glared at the way my brother had gone and soared down the hallway, overhead Silver and Berry. (Savvi and Shade went to get Lolly!) I told them, my leathery white wings churning the still, chemical-smelling air.<p>

Silver cursed under his breath, causing one of my large ears to twitch. I almost slammed into a wall, adjusting my course just in time to make a sharp turn in midair.

"Well, we can't let them go, can we?" Silver huffed from below.

(I know,) I agreed, sending the thought to Silver alone. I could feel Savvi and Shade as they wove through the hallways of the School, vulnerable and alone. Why had I let them go? They would get recaptured or slaughtered by Erasers - they just went too fast for me to stop them.

"Berry, we need to catch up to Savvi and Shade," Silver hissed. The nine-year-old nodded, and Silver called, "Okay, Fay! Lead the way!"

Drawing on my mutant-bat-freak instincts, I swerved around a corner, Silver and Berry running after me. But it was hard to home in on the position of the pair; they were constantly moving, after all. Adrenaline surged through my veins as I hovered in place, desperately trying to locate them.

(I can't get a lock on them!) I cried in distress. My gaze darted around, taking in the blinding, blank white walls, the tiled floor, the corridors branching out on either side. Suddenly the pair stopped, and my senses whirled to give me their general direction. I didn't have time to concentrate and figure out which room they were in, so I just called, (This way!) and swerved down another hallway. The three of us raced, panting, through countless hallways.

_Crap!_ I thought suddenly, and informed Silver and Berry, (They're on the move again!)

"Going somewhere, mutants?" I whirled in midair to see an Eraser staring at us, fully morphed, leering wickedly.

In seconds, Silver ran and leaped at the Eraser; with a growl, the wolfman swiped at him, but Silver dove down, targeting the Eraser's legs. The Eraser staggered, and I divebombed his head, giving him a good clout to the jaw. "Grrah!" Berry cried as he charged our enemy. The Eraser knocked him away easily, as if swatting a fly, and I could see anger building up in Silver as the young boy hit the wall hard. The Eraser dove for Silver, but the fish/human hybrid was prepared, simply lifting his knee at the last moment so the wolfman collided into it with all the force of his jump. The two slid back several paces, and while the Eraser was heaving for breath Silver knocked his head against the wall, hard, causing him to black out.

(Good job!) I said to Silver appraisingly, and we dashed forward again, leaving the Eraser slumped on the cool tile floor.

Seconds later, we stopped in front of looming forest-green double doors. (They're in here!) I crowed, and we all raced in.

Just in time to see Shade collapse on the floor.

Red-hot panic instantly coursed through me as Silver cried, "Shade!" The three of us dashed forward into what seemed to be a garage. Rows of vans, glimmering blood-red under flourescent lights, lined the huge room. And a whitecoat stood several feet away, a tranquilizer gun clasped in her trembling hands. With a furious cry, Silver raced across the concrete floor, ducked a whizzing dart, and leaped upon the scientist, knocking her out after a short struggle with a kick to the head.

"What now?" Savvi panted, a round-eyed Lolly clutching onto her slim torso.

No one spoke a word for several minutes. Tension built in the room, stretching thin like a bubble about to pop as seconds ticked by. Then Silver spoke up, his voice low and quiet. "Let's jack one of these," he said, his thin fingers fluttering across a van's burgundy hood.

"What." Savvi said flatly, more a statement than a question. I was thinking the same thing.

"They'd never catch us," Silver persisted. "Shade's knocked out. We don't have much of a choice." I gulped as my gaze slid to the motionless dark heap on the concrete floor - my older brother.

"None of us knows how to drive," Savvi disagreed firmly.

"We can't just stand here!" Silver argued, his voice rising.

(I agree,) I asserted quietly, directing the thought to all four of my (conscious) friends. I glanced at my brother again, a tranquilizer dart protruding from his left shoulder. My eyes hardened, daring the others to disagree.

"Fine," Savvi decided reluctantly, "We'll try."

She opened the door to the nearest van and slid into the driver's seat. Silver opened a side door, and I dragged Shade's limp form into the back seat, Berry, Silver, and Lolly piling in after me.

"Silver, we have a problem," said Savvi dryly. "There aren't any keys."


	6. Chapter 6: Savvi

**A/N: D: I'm so sorry I'm late! I've just been really busy lately, y'know, blah blah blah, all the regular excuses. ANYWAY! To make up, this will be a DOUBLE UPDATE! Two chapters for you guys. (Although they're both on the short side...) Also, RtF will be updated a bit less frequently through winter break, as I am working on a collaboration story project with my best friend, who on FF goes by OfWeaponaryDefences. However, my goal will be to still update it twice a week. NOW! For review replies...**

**DarkCorner - Haha, that's fine. Now we're even!**

**Ofweaponarydefences - Hi best friend! :) And yes, after this update, I will go read your story. Happy now? :P**

**Pyroman-15 - Oh yes, I do dearly love cliffhangers...**

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><p>I searched around for the keys, helped by an urgent group of Silver, Fay, Berry, and Lolly. Eventually we found them in a box tucked under the driver's seat - along with $50. "Guess they're not worried about escapees jacking the cars," Silver stated in amusement.<p>

"Probably because they don't teach any of us to drive," I answered dryly. The huge driver's panel in front of me was extremely overwhelming, covered in buttons, switches, and blinking lights. I started by sticking the one lone key on the keychain into the hole next to the steering wheel. I twisted it and jumped as the engine roared to life.

"Er..." I stared blankly at the pedals under my feet, which I could barely reach - I was 14, but short for my age.

Distant shouts reached my sharp ears and I stiffened, heart leaping. The whitecoats were coming!

"That one's 'go'," said Berry, pointing to one of the pedals. "And that one takes you out of park."

"How do you know?" I asked, astounded.

The young mutant grinned, green eyes sparkling. "I don't know. I just do!"

"Well, hurry up! Drive!" I spluttered. Scrambling past Silver, who was in the passenger's seat, I knelt between the first and second lines of seats. As Berry pushed past me to the driver's seat, I wondered if having a 9-year-old drive was a very good idea. But we didn't have much of a choice, with the pounding footsteps growing closer by the second.

The van leaped forward, making me lurch and Lolly shriek. "Buckle up," I said grimly, and slid into place beside Lolly on the second row. I managed to get us both buckled, as Fay struggled to push her tranquilized brother into a sitting position and get him buckled in. As the van jumped forth again, the garage's double doors banged open and a squad of Erasers burst through, snarling and grinning horribly. "Go, go, go!" I shouted hoarsely, and Berry made the car hurtle forward as glass exploded by my ear. _They have guns!_ I thought in panic.

"The garage door isn't open!" Silver shouted, cursing. We would plow into the hefty garage door in just moments.

(Let me go!) Fay called urgently. Without waiting for my reply, the thin bat girl threw open a side door and swooped out of the van. The Erasers adjusted their aim, bullets whizzing past her slender frame as she spotted the big red button marked "OPEN" that protruded from the wall. She smacked it and the door rumbled up as the Erasers gained on us, wolfen eyes glittering with hate.

"FAY!" I shrieked, and she hurtled back toward the van, shooting back into the banging open side door at the last moment. I managed to wrestle the door shut again as Fay struggled to buckle herself back in.

The snarling squad of Erasers raced after us, and one punched the button again. The garage door groaned as it changed gears; I winced, but we shot past, barely clearing the door, zooming into the outside world.

It was the first time I had truly felt the sun's rays.

The garage door rumbled shut, trapping the enraged Erasers inside. Oh, they would get it open again and race out after us snarling and slobbering. But at the speed Berry was going we'd be far gone before they could catch up.

We were free.

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><p><strong>AN: Don't forget to read the second part of the Double Update! :)**


	7. Chapter 7: Shade

**A/N: So, here's the second part of the Double Update! Sorry it's so short! :P Oh, and also, don't get mad if I forget to update on weekends. I'm VERY busy being a lazy bum on weekends.**

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><p>I woke up with a major headache and a panicky feeling, like I'd woken up in a strange place.<p>

Which I had.

I jolted upright with a startled cry, then spotted Fay sitting right next to me, her pink-red eyes gazing silently into mine. (It's okay,) she told me softly. (We escaped.) And a radiant smile curled onto her face, like a beautiful flower blooming.

"_Escaped?_" I cried out. Jumping up - the seatbelt cutting across my chest - I saw dusty reddish dirt rolling off into the distance from out the window, speeding rapidly by.

"In a van," Silver clarified from the passenger's seat. "My idea."

"I figured out how to work it!" Berry boasted. He was sitting in the next row up, beside a very happy-looking Lolly.

Savvi was in the driver's seat, clutching the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles were white. "How do you do this again, Berry?"

"We're... free," I whispered. Happiness radiated through me, like the sun. Then I groaned softly and let my head flop back against the seat. "I got tranquilized, didn't I?"

(I'm afraid so,) sighed Fay.

"So... That's it, then. We're really free. Out of there," I stammered. I was trying to wrap my head around the whole world of possibilities that were now opening up to me.

"Yup!" Lolly crowed, her big brown eyes sparkling.

I was overcome with dizzy giddiness. When Fay tackle-hugged me, I didn't pull away like I normally would, just sat there, dazed. "So... what do we do now?" I asked, becoming more alert.

It was Savvi who answered, her voice determined and firm. "We find somewhere safe and faraway, where the School can never find us again."

Berry grinned and twisted back to look me in the eye. "But first, we find a town and rustle up some grub!" He held up a fistful of dollar bills, causing my eyes to bug out. "It was in a box under one of the seats, along with the key."

"And we need clothes," added practical Silver. "I mean, if we didn't it would be walking around with a huge sign taped to our forehead saying 'I'M A MUTANT!'."

(Car's coming!) Fay warned suddenly. Everyone but Savvi ducked down, and I quickly followed suit. Savvi just flattened her ears and clenched her jaw, and luckily the other car passed right on by without the driver even glancing at us.

"So how are we going to buy anything, anyway?" I asked. All of us had pretty obvious non-human features. Fay and I had bat ears and wings; for Pete's sake, Silver had _fins_. I could keep going on and on, but you get the point.

Everyone looked at Berry.

"Chameleon. _Duh,_" he said, rolling his eyes.

Oh.


End file.
